NYC definition of a switchblade

[whitehorn]

I was reading in Blade magazine or another major knife magazine, that the NYC DA has sued Home Depot for "selling switchblades" He defines switchblades as box cutters and one hand opening knives. How does he get away with this? I am surprised Home Depot didn't challenge this.

[Tom19176]

DA Vance is actually calling them gravity knife since they can be flicked open, and assisted openers he is calling switchblades...All been discussed here and on baldeforums many times. Do a search for more details. He is wrong, but so far there has not been much of a fight.....

[natcherly]

NYC DA's have a tradition of chasing headlines in this way. It shows the voters they are on the ball

[whitehorn]

NYC DA's have a tradition of chasing headlines in this way. It shows the voters they are on the ball

or on the prowl for your rights!

[Tom19176]

You have to understand NYC to get what is going on with this situation. In the 1950s the first anti switchblade law in the nation was passed in NY State. The federal law was based on it and passed two years later. The law defined two types of knives that were banned switchbaldes and gravity knives. The issue came from the wording of what is a gravity knife as it allows for a knife that can be opened by centifrugal force ( the movement away from the center of a circle). For 30+ years this was never viewed to include folding lockblade knives, but the NYPD started to enforce arrest for a grvity knife for any locking knife that you can flick open. Along came Syderco and they started to view the holding of the blade and flicking the handle open as a gravity knife also as the Spydie drop made this a method of opening widely known. Then Mayor Koch decided he did not like to see people carrying knives , so he made it illegal to have a knife exposed on your person and pocket clips became a part of this as they were considered to be carrying an exposed knife. Zoom ahead to the months passed 9/11 and the NYPD began enforcing all weapons laws strictly. Knife arrest became a "good" arrest for an officer to make ( In my day you would have been laughed out of the station house for taking in a guy for knife possession only). When the DA for the last 30 years retired after being relected several times, a new DA was voted in, Vance. To be fair to him, he saw over 2,000 knife arrest a year in his part of NYC ( Manhattan), and he questioned his staff where all these knives came from since they were illegal to sell also. The investigators under him went to hardware stores and sporting goods stores and others shops that sold knives. They found several that sold knives and cutting tools that had blades that could flick open and lock. These to him were gravity knives and therefore illegal. They also found assisted openers and called them switchblades , which they are not. Now, up to this point he was doing the right thing for his position, as he was seeking to stop the supply of banned items that were openly sold to the general public who then could be arrested for weapons possession. I had hoped he would have pressed charges against the big stores- Home Depot, Paragon sports, because they would have had to defend themselves and perhaps cleared up what a gravity knife really is in NYS law. This did not happen, instead he offered a fine to them to prevent them from being charged! I can't see how that is legal? I have spoken to several ADA's in NYC and no one agrees with his actions. It has circumvented the due process of law, and took away the court case that may have cleared up the NY knife law. That is the story to this point. The knife right groups are fighting him ( join them if you care about your rights), and Vance is now going after internet dealers who sold to NYC investiagtors. I will post a link to the law too.

[Tom19176]

Here is a link to the NYS Law:

http://knife-expert.com/ny.txt

[natcherly]

NYC DA's have a tradition of chasing headlines in this way. It shows the voters they are on the ball

or on the prowl for your rights!

Sometimes that may be true, but this case hardly supports that assertion.

[natcherly]

Thanks, Tom, for your explanation and insights. More examples of "good intentions" paving the road to you-know-where.

[john]

Why doesn't he go after real criminals? Like killers, rapist, child molesters, terrorist, etc.

[BTB0923]

Why doesn't he go after real criminals? Like killers, rapist, child molesters, terrorist, etc.

Because they don't have any money for him to extort

[Tom19176]

This story has made all the rounds in the knife mags. I stopped in Barnes and Nobles and they all had stories in Blade, Tactical and Knife illistracted...

[whitehorn]

Yeah, I read it in Blade.

[dp68]

I do not know how things are in NYC, but most of our local gangs carry illegally obtained firearms, Glocks, Sig Sauer, S&w, etc.

Can't Imagine things are that much different on the right coast. A friend of mine in Jersey says it's easier to go to the city and by a clean firearm on the Grey market. Faster, no background check and you take delivery right away.

Seems They would be more interested in real crime, then enforcing obsolete knife laws to the point of being ridicules. Funny in Oregon we can carry a switch blade as long it' blade is under 3.5" And what you have at home is yours. I wonder why we don't have a lot of real knife crime problem. Your DA should check with the FBI what kind knives are usually used in crimes. I guess his next step will be to make kitchen cutlery illegal.

What a waste of time and money, but it sure is easier then trying to catch real criminals.

dp68

[whitehorn]

Yeah, really. Common sense, who would think it?

[horizonod]

In New York City it's probably illegal to switch from a butter knife blade to a steak knife blade when dining because "switch" and "blade" are in the same sentence. ash holes!! Isn't there enough REAL crime that crimes don't have to be invented or contrived?